KEY POINTS:
If you didn't know any better you might be forgiven for thinking there was an All Blacks game playing on the TV at Tauranga's Grace Hospital yesterday.
The group of men and women watching the TV at the hospital are all clad in purple smocks and surgical masks and have a similar intensity to those who watch big rugby matches.
But there is no beer and no one is screaming - that's because they were watching New Zealand's first robot assisted surgery being performed.
On the TV screen are the inner workings of patient Ivan Booth, who travelled from Taupo to have a radical prostatectomy operation.
To the untrained eye it was difficult to make out exactly which part of Mr Booth was being shown. What was clear, however, is that the four instruments visible on screen are very delicately and very precisely cutting away at his body tissues.
Mr Booth has early stage prostate cancer and, like most patients going under the knife, he was a bit nervous.
Fortunately the operation was to be performed by a state of the art $2.7 million robot, da Vinci Surgical System.
The robot was brought to the hospital last month and it is hoped it will become a permanent member of staff to be used for a variety of surgery.
"When the prospect of being operated on by the robot became a firm option my anxiety was reduced," 61-year-old Mr Booth said.
"It will do a better job protecting my nerves and give me a faster recovery time.
"Hopefully I'll be able to walk out of here some time tomorrow."
Urologist Peter Sutherland, who yesterday flew in from his home in Adelaide to perform the surgery, said protecting nerves and not damaging the delicate area where the prostate sits is of paramount importance to a patient's recovery.
Using old methods a radical prostatectomy could result in bladder control problems and impotence.
"Men are frightened to have the surgery because they don't want to come out wearing nappies and not being able to get it up," he said.
With robot-assisted prostate surgery there are no major incisions, just five small holes placed in the patient's abdomen through which to fit instruments and a small camera.
Mr Sutherland, who is head of Urology at Royal Adelaide Hospital, has performed 300 robot- assisted operations. He said because of the lack of major incisions the patent can use minor pain killers such as Panadol instead of morphine for recovery and they are often discharged within 24 hours.
"Robot surgery is the future. You can work much more accurately and with more finesse which means you can offer a patient the best possible job."
Sitting at the control console during yesterday's operation, Mr Sutherland was less than three metres away from both the patient and robot. He used his hands and feet to direct the robot's four arms and he peered through an eye piece which, unlike the two-dimensional TV on the wall, gives the surgeon a three- dimensional view of the patient's internal organs.
From the console Mr Sutherland was able to communicate with his assistants and provide commentary for the other surgeons in attendance, most of whom were glued to the wall-mounted televisions.
Tauranga urologist Peter Gilling was one of those in attendance. He pioneered laproscopic or key hole surgery in New Zealand and will likely be one of the first to use the da Vinci robot at Grace Hospital. Mr Gilling and fellow urologist Andre Westenburg, will soon travel to the United States to train on the robot.
"This is all part of the learning process for us - seeing the robot actually do its thing is the whole purpose of the experience. It's very exciting for New Zealand," he said.
Two hours and forty- five minutes later it was all over.
In a first for New Zealand, Ivan Booth had his prostate removed by the arms of a robot and the skill of a surgeon.
There was minimal discomfort and blood loss and he won't have to deal with any major physical scars.
According to Mr Gilling there is a good chance Mr Booth will be back in Taupo in the next day or so - just in time to watch the All Blacks play in the Rugby World Cup.
- BOP TIMES
